By Eshioromeh Sebastian
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has dismissed Monday’s Court of Appeal judgment upholding a ban on its state congresses, declaring that the ruling has no bearing on the validity of its direct primaries or the emergence of its candidates for the 2027 general elections.
The party confirmed it has already commenced the process of appealing the decision to the Supreme Court, describing the appellate court’s verdict as “legally unsustainable.”
The development comes less than 48 hours after a rival faction of the party, led by Nafiu Bala Gombe, claimed it had successfully uploaded the names of its presidential and other candidates to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) nomination portal, a claim the electoral umpire has since debunked.
Spear News Nigeria reports that a three-member panel of the Court of Appeal in Abuja delivered a split two-to-one judgment on Monday, affirming a Federal High Court order restraining INEC from recognising state congresses conducted by committees appointed by the Senator David Mark-led caretaker leadership of the ADC.
Justice Okon Abang, who delivered the lead judgment with Justice Donatus Okorowo concurring, dismissed the appeal and upheld the April 29 ruling of Justice Joyce Abdulmalik.
The court held that the authority to conduct state congresses rests with elected state executive committees, not the national caretaker leadership, and declared that the congresses and national convention organised by the Mark-led committee were nullities, having been conducted in defiance of a subsisting court order issued on April 14.
The appellate court also awarded a cost of N10 million against the ADC.
However, the presiding Justice, Abba Mohammed, delivered a dissenting judgment, arguing that the dispute bordered on the internal affairs of a political party and was therefore non-justiciable, adding that the Federal High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the suit.
Reacting to the ruling in a statement signed by its National Publicity Secretary, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi, the ADC insisted that the judgment does not affect the direct primaries through which its candidates emerged for the 2027 elections.
“We wish to assure members of the Party and the general public that this judgment has no effect whatsoever on the direct primaries through which the Party’s candidates have emerged at all levels,” the statement read.
The party further noted the dissenting judgment of the presiding Justice, which it argued more accurately reflects the settled position of the law and aligns with the party’s stance on the matter.
“The party has already commenced the process of appealing the judgment, which we respectfully disagree with and consider to be legally unsustainable,” the statement added.
Former Vice President and ADC presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, also dismissed claims that the Court of Appeal invalidated the party’s primary elections, urging party members and supporters to remain calm.
“The judgment being celebrated relates to the conduct of state congresses and the tenure of State Executive Committees. It does not, from the facts available, amount to a judicial nullification of the ADC’s primary elections conducted under the Electoral Act,” Shaibu said.
Atiku argued there is a clear legal distinction between the election of party executives through internal congresses and the nomination of candidates through statutory primary elections. “They are distinct legal exercises, governed by different legal principles and serving different constitutional purposes. One should not be confused with the other,” he said.
The former presidential candidate disclosed that the ADC had already instructed its legal team to approach the Supreme Court for a final determination of the issues arising from the Appeal Court judgment.
Meanwhile, the ADC leadership moved swiftly to dismiss claims by the Nafiu Bala Gombe faction that it had uploaded candidates’ names to the INEC nomination portal.
“The claim is a blatant lie,” Abdullahi said in a separate statement. “INEC does not issue nomination portal access or nomination codes to a leadership it does not recognise. Secondly, the Commission will not issue two codes to the same party.”
The party challenged the Gombe faction to provide evidence of the purported upload and formally drew INEC’s attention to what it described as “the forgery and unauthorised use of documents purportedly emanating from the Commission in a manner capable of creating confusion and undermining public confidence in its integrity and reputation as Nigeria’s electoral umpire.”
Confirming the ADC leadership’s position, a senior INEC official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Punch that only the David Mark-led National Executive Committee is recognised by the commission and has access to its nomination portal.
“INEC did not give access codes to Nafiu Gombe as claimed by Atiku’s Media Office. INEC operates based on the legal framework guiding elections and the electoral system in Nigeria,” the official said.
The official added that Gombe lacks the legal standing to submit candidates through the commission’s portal because he is not recognised as the party’s chairman.
“It’s as good as saying that Nafiu Gombe cannot upload the names of candidates on the INEC portal because he is not the officially recognised chairman of the ADC,” the official stated.
The legal landscape remains complicated for the party. In a separate case in early July 2026, a different Federal High Court judge, Justice Musa Liman, affirmed the Mark-led leadership in a suit filed by Rep. Leke Abejide, holding that the dispute was non-justiciable as it bordered on the internal affairs of a political party.
That judgment effectively put to rest the legal challenge against the Mark-led leadership at the time, reinforcing the legitimacy of the ADC’s current national executives.
However, Monday’s Appeal Court ruling has once again thrown the party’s internal leadership structure into uncertainty, even as the ADC insists its presidential ticket remains intact.
The ADC leadership urged its members and supporters to remain calm and focused, maintaining that its internal processes remain intact.
Reaffirming its political mission, the party stated it remains fully committed to the task of providing Nigerians with a credible alternative to the ruling parties and vowed to continue pursuing that mission “in accordance with the Constitution and the rule of law.”
The Supreme Court challenge now represents the final battleground for the ADC, which is banking on the dissenting opinion of Justice Abba Mohammed to strengthen its argument before the apex court.
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